Title defence begins with retirement in Bahrain for Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s first race as world champion ended with retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari’s first win since 2019 ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was third.

Neither Red Bull Racing car made it to the finish of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday as technical gremlins struck both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, forcing them both into late retirements.

Verstappen had been fighting with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the lead at the Sakhir circuit, and the pair swapped places back and forth in a thrilling mid-race battle before the Monegasque driver got the upper hand over the reigning world champion.

As Verstappen made his final stop though, being dropped off the jack bent a track rod in the suspension and he began to complain of heavy steering and struggled to keep Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari behind him. Eventually, he was told of a fuel system problem and had to retire his car.

Team mate Perez then inherited Verstappen’s podium spot and was fighting to keep Lewis Hamilton behind, only for a similar fuel issue to strike his RB18 too, cutting the engine as he entered Turn 1 with two laps to go, spinning him out of the race.

Verstappen was in contention for the win in the early stages of the race until overheating brakes forced him out of the right, and fuel problems took him out of the race completely.

“We were feeling quite competitive throughout the weekend so the result today was very unfortunate for us,” said Verstappen afterwards. “The problems started initially with the brakes, they were overheating so I had to lift off and as a result I lost pace and had to let Charles go.

“After that, there were still a few issues with car balance and after my final pit stop my steering wheel was locked. That made it very difficult to drive so defending from Carlos at the re-start wasn’t easy.

“The final issue looked like a fuel system problem, which is why I had to retire and it was extremely painful for both our cars to DNF. At the end of the day, motorsport is unpredictable and these things can happen, this is race one, we have plenty more ahead of us.”

Sergio Perez walks away from his stricken RB18 after his engine cut out and he spun out

Perez added: “It was going to be a great start to the season but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the result we were hoping for. It is very disappointing to not be able to execute the result we wanted; we had the podium in our pocket until the last lap.

“A couple of laps before the end I could feel I was losing power, we knew there was an issue and we knew what had happened with Max. I had a similar issue to his car, at the moment we think it was a fuel system problem and basically the engine just stopped.

“It is tough to digest but we are going to look for the positives and come back stronger next week in Jeddah. I am sure we will get to the bottom of the problem, we are a great team and I really believe in them.

“Today is very disappointing and an unfortunate start to our season but a year is a long time in Formula 1 and we’re only one race in.”